'•- 


977 

C4 


c 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAICN 

977.31 

dfsic 

cop.   2 


I.H.S. 


377. 3 1 


CHICAGO 


PICTORIAL 


HISTORICAL 


V 


RAND,  MCNALLY  &  Co. 
PHOTOGRAPHERS,  ENGRAVERS  AND  I 
CHICAGO 


CHICAGO 


HISTORICAL 
PICTORIAL 


HISTORY  OF  CHICAGO.— CONDENSED. 


the  site  of  Chicago  was  visited 
-!<  ur  Joliet  as   far  back  as  1674,  by 
I. a  Salle  eight  years  later,  and  by  Father 
;ette  at  about  the  same  time,  the 
history  <>f  Chicago  properly  begins  with  the  treaty 
made  with  twelve  tribes  of  Indians  in  1795  at  Green- 
ville. ( >hio,  when  Gen.  Anthony  Wayne,  as  agent  for 
tlie  Crovernment  of  the  United  States,  purchased  the 
original  site  of  Chicago.     In  the  treaty  negotiated  at 
that  time,  it  was  provided  that  the  United  States  should 
have  certain  pieces  of  ground  for  trading  posts,  and 
-  thus  described:  "  One  piece  of  land  six 
miles  square,  at  the  mouth  of  Chicago  River,  empty- 
Ipchigan,  where  a  fort  formerly  stood." 
Thus  was  established  the  site  of  Fort  Dearborn, 
built  by  Major  Whistler  in   1803,  and  around  which 
il he-red  a  little  settlement  which  has  grown 
to  lie  the  seroml  city  of  the  western  world. 

By  1 820  a  dozen  or  more  families  had  established 
themselves  in  the  village,  but  it  was  not  until  the 
Indians  ceded'their  lands,  after  the  Black  Hawk  War, 


and  finally  left  the  territory,  that  Chicago  began  to 
grow.  That  was  in  1833.  The  first  census,  in  1835, 
showed  a  population  of  3,225.  The  original  town  of 
Chicago,  from  Chicago  Avenue  to  Madison  Street 
and  from  State  Street  to  Halsted  Street,  had  been 
laid  out  five  years  previously,  but  it  was  not  until 
March  4,  1837,  that  a  charter  for  the  city  of  Chicago 
was  granted  by  the  State  Legislature.  Up  to  that 
time  not  much  enterprise,  as  it  is  known  to-day,  had 
been  shown,  nor  had  many  public  works  been  insti- 
tuted. But  the  next  decade  saw  great  progress.  The 
first  waterworks  were  built  in  1841.  The  next  year  the 
first  propeller  was  launched,  and  in  that  year  for  the 
first  time  the  exports  exceeded  the  imports.  In  1843 
the  first  book  was  published,  and  the  following  year 
saw  the  beginning  of  what  is  now  Chicago's  greatest 
single  industry  when  the  first  meat  was  packed  for 
the  English  market.  The  first  permanent  public 
school  was  built  in  1845;  1847  saw  the  first  theater 
erected,  and  the  next  year  the  first  telegram  was  re- 
ceived and  the  first  locomotive  arrived  by  schooner. 


590 15 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 

AT  URBANA  CHAMPAIGN 


By  that  time  Chicago  had  become  a  city,  great  for 
its  day,  and  with  abundant  promise  of  progress,  which 
has  been  more  than  fulfilled.  The  population  had 
increased  to  more  than  25,000,  and  from  that  time 
there  was  no  check  to  the  onward  march  (if  Chicago 
to  the  position  it  now  occupies.  In  1860  the  popula- 
tion had  increased  to  109,206,  and  the  city  was  looked 
upon  as  a  metropolis.  Ten  years  later  the  population 
had  trebled,  the  United  States  census  giving  Chicago 
298,977  inhabitants  in  1870.  The  next  year  came  the 
great  fire  which  destroyed  practically  the  entire  city, 
except  the  portions  south  of  Harrison  Street  and 
west  of  Halsted  Street,  burning  over  2,124  acres  of 
buildings,  leaving  100,000  people  homeless,  and  caus- 
ing a  loss  of  $290,000,000.  But  the  city  arose  from 
this  unprecedented  disaster,  stronger,  more  virile, 
and  more  attractive  than  ever.  Within  two  years 
practically  all  of  the  burned  portion  had  been  rebuilt, 
and  the  energy  and  public  spirit  displayed  by  the 
people  of  Chicago  attracted  to  it  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  people  from  all  sections  of  the  world.  Its 
growth  after  the  fire  was  phenomenal,  the  population 
practically  doubling  in  each  decade,  until  now  it  is 
close  to  the  two-million  mark. 


The  World's  Columbian  Exposition  .i 

brought  Chicago  into  the   forefront  of  tin 
the  world,  not  only  by  the   rapidity  with  which 
marvelously  beautiful  White  City  was  built,  but  by 
the  completeness  of  the  exhibition  itself.     The  i 
attendance  for  the  six  months  of  the  exposition  was 
27'539>521-     The  cost  of  the  exposition,  exclusive  ol' 
the  vast  sums  spent  by  exhibitors  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  was  $28,151,168.75,  and  a  handsome  divi- 
dend was  recently  returned  to  the  stockholdi 

The  most  noteworthy  feature  at  Chicago,  during 
the  years  succeeding  the  great  exposition,  lias  i 
the  decided  improvement  in  the  architecture  and 
general  character  of  the  buildings  erected  to  carry  on 
the  vast  business  interests  of  the  city.  Scores  of  the 
old  buildings,  which  were  built  immediately  alter  the 
great  fire,  have  given  way  to  magnificent  modern 
structures,  architecturally  beautiful,  and  finished  and 
furnished  throughout  in  keeping  with  the  exterior. 
The  Chicago  National  Hank  building  is  a  type  of  this 
new  order  of  architecture  in  public  buildings  which 
ornament  the  business  streets  of  the  city,  and  it 
stands  without  a  peer  among  butldim  1  t<> 

banking  purposes. 


PAINTINGS  BY  MR.  LAWRENCE  C.  EARLE. 


>  HE  mural  paintings  in  the  Chicago  National 
Bank  building  are  the  work  of  Lawrence 
C.  Earle  of  Montclair,  N.  J.,an  artist  who 
ranks  among  the  leaders  in  his  chosen  field 
in  the  United  States.  The  work  on  the  sixteen  paint- 
ings was  actually  begun  in  the  fall  of  1900,  when  Mr 
Earle  came  to  Chicago  to  discuss  with  the  officials 
of  the  bank  the  commission  which  had  been  offered 
him.  After  accepting  it  he  set  about  his  gigantic 
task  by  settling  down  in  the  rooms  of  the  Chicago 
Historical  Society  for  study  and  research  among  the 
books,  manuscripts,  wood  cuts,  and  other  memori- 
als of  early  Chicago.  For  several  weeks  the  artist 
carried  on  his  investigations,  leaving  no  source  of 
possible  information  unexplored.  He  experienced 
considerable  difficulty  in  finding  material  for  several 
of  the  paintings,  as  many  of  the  subjects  selected  had 
not  previously  been  pictorially  reproduced  even  in 
crude  form,  and  Mr.  Earle  found  it  necessary  to  rely 
largely  upon  published  descriptions  of  the  scenes  and 
incidents  he  intended  to  place  upon  canvas. 


At  length  the  preliminary  work  was  done  and  the 
artist  finished  his  scale  drawings,  which  gave  a  hint 
in  miniature  of  the  glories  that  were  to  grow  upon  the 
canvas  beneath  the  touch  of  his  brushes.  Returning 
to  his  home  in  the  East,  he  discovered  that  his  studio 
was  not  large  enough  to  permit  him  to  set  up  several 
of  the  large  canvases  at  one  time,  as  was  his  inten- 
tion, and  therefore  he  begged  the  privilege  of  using 
the  large  studio  in  the  residence  of  Mr.  Wm.  Evans, 
an  art  connoisseur  of  Montclair.  The  accommoda- 
tion was  readily  granted,  and  when  Mr.  Earle  had 
secured  the  services  of  Edward  Potthast,  an  eminent 
painter  of  New  York,  as  his  assistant,  the  real  work 
was  begun.  For  weary  months  the  two  artists  and 
several  assistants  labored  on  the  immense  canvases, 
three  and  four  often  being  under  way  at  one  time, 
until  at  length  the  last  one  was  finished  and  the  last 
touch  of  beauty  was  added  to  the  Chicago  National 
Bank  building.  From  the  time  the  paintings  were 
unveiled  they  have  been  viewed  and  admired  daily 
by  hundreds  of  visitors  to  the  building. 


THE  WINTER  QUARTERS  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE,  1674. 


HE  first  white  man  to  set  foot  in  Chicago 
was  Father  Jacques  Marquette,  the  Catho- 
lic missionary,  who  has  left  the  impress 
of  his  personality  upon  all  of  the  north- 
west lake  region.  His  visit  to  the  Indians  camped  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River,  in  the  winter  of  1674, 
was  the  last  mission  he  undertook,  as  he  died  in  the 
following  spring  while  attempting  to  return  to  Macki- 
nac.  The  illness  which  resulted  in  the  death  of  the 
famous  missionary  overtook  him  not  far  from  the 
present  boundaries  of  Chicago,  near  what  is  known 
as  "The  Sag,"  on  the  Desplaines  River.  Here  he 
camped  for  the  entire  winter  with  the  Indians,  who 
revered  the  "black-robed  chieftain"  for  his  good 
works  among  them.  Born  in  France  in  1637,  he  early 
entered  the  church,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine 
years  determined  to  come  to  the  new  world  to  spread 
the  gospel  among  the  savage  aborigines.  Naturally, 
he  selected  as  his  starting  point  the  French  settle- 
ments in  Canada,  and  established  missions  for  the 
Indians  at  Three  Rivers,  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  Macki- 


nac.  In  1673,  with  five  companions,  he  started  to 
explore  the  Mississippi  River,  of  which  the  Indians 
had  told  him.  The  party  floated  down  the  great  river 
in  canoes  to  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River,  and 
from  there  returned  to  Green  Bay.  Father  Mar- 
quette encountered  a  number  of  Kaskaskia  Indians 
on  the  trip,  members  of  a  tribe  which  inhabited 
Illinois,  and  he  promised  to  return  to  them  the  next 
year  to  establish  a  mission.  In  the  fall  of  1674  he 
left  Green  Bay  and  sailed  down  Lake  Michigan  to 
Chicago,  stopping  at  Milwaukee,  Racine,  Kenosha, 
and  other  points.  He  found  an  Indian  village  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Chicago  River,  and  after  some  time  sailed 
up  the  south  branch  as  far  as  he  could.  Attempting 
to  continue  his  journey  on  the  Desplaines,  he  fell  ill 
and  camped  there  for  the  winter.  The  next  spring 
he  started  on  the  return  journey  to  Mackinac,  but 
died  near  St.  Joseph,  Michigan,  May  18,  1675.  The 
details  of  these  journeys  are  known  to  history  through 
the  journal  which  Father  Marquette  carefully  kept 
during  his  missionary  labors. 


WINTER   QUARTERS  OF   MARQUETTE 


THE  KINZIE  HOUSE,  NEAR  FORT  DEARBORN,  1804. 


N  1779  Baptists  Point  De  Saible,  a  French 
trader  among  the  Indians,  built  for  himself  a 
log  cabin  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  which 
afterward  came  to  be  known  as  the  Chicago 
River,  and  that  log  cabin,  enlarged  and  improved  as 
the  years  went  by,  was  destined  to  be  the  first  home 
in  Chicago  and  the  birthplace  of  the  first  white  child — 
the  house  of  John  Kinzie.  This  Kinzie  house,  around 
which  clusters  so  much  of  the  very  earliest  history  of 
Chicago,  stood  within  seventy-five  feet  of  the  water's 
edge,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  and  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  present  Rush  Street  bridge.  When 
Baptiste  Point  De  Saible  built  it  he  had  but  himself 
to  accommodate,  and  during  the  seventeen  years  he 
lived  in  the  log  cabin  it  was  not  much  changed.  He 
sold  it  to  another  French  trader,  Le  Mai,  who  im- 
proved the  place  to  some  extent,  and  in  1804  it  be- 
came the  property  of  John  Kinzie,  "  the  Father  of 
Chicago,"  Indian  trader  and  original  white  settler. 
He  enlarged  the  house  to  accommodate  his  family  and 
made  of  it  a  long  one-story  building  with  a  gambrel- 


roofed  attic.      It  had  a  southern  exposure,  a  door  in 
the  center  of  that  side,  and  three  windows  on  either 
side  of  the  door.     In  that  old  log  house  in  December, 
1804,  the  year  John  Kinzie  bought  it,  the  first  white 
child  born   in   Chicago,  his  daughter  Ellen  Marion, 
first  saw  the  light.     She  was  his  second  child,  and  ft 
is  to  his  son,  John  H.  Kinzie,  and  the  latter's  wif£ 
who  wrote  "  Waubun,"  that  later  generations  OWB 
most  of  their  information  about  those  formative  days 
in  Chicago's  history.     John  Kinzie  was  sutler  to  thv 
garrison  at  Fort  Dearborn,   and  when   the   soldien 
started  on  the  fatal  march  to  Detroit,  which  ended  i^ 
the  massacre  at  Eighteenth  Street,  he  went  with  theni 
as  an  enlisted  man,  having  left  his  family  in  care  i>K 
friendly  Indians.    He  was  captured  by  hostile  Indian* 
and  separated  from  his  family  for  four  years.     Aftelf 
his  return  the  old  Kinzie  house  was  the  center  of  the 
social  life  of  the  little  settlement,  until  his  death  inr 
1831.   After  that  it  was  occupied  by  J.  N.  Bailey,  firsfj 
postmaster  of  Chicago,  and  the  first  post  office  was  inl 
the  building.    Not  long  after  that  it  was  destroyed. 


THE   KINZIE  HOUSE 


THE  FIRST  FORT  DEARBORN,  1803. 


DEARBORN  was  erected  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1803,  the  third  year  of  Thomas  Jef- 
ferson's first  presidential  term,  by  order  of 
his  Secretary  of  War,  Gen.  Henry  Dearborn. 
In  July  of  that  year  work  was  begun  by  a  construc- 
tion force  under  command  of  Capt.  John  Whistler, 
and  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  the  army  officers 
formally  took  possession.  The  little  garrison  at  that 
time  consisted  of  a  captain,  a  second  lieutenant,  an 
ensign,  four  sergeants,  three  corporals,  four  musi- 
cians, a  surgeon's  mate,  and  fifty-four  privates.  The 
fort  was  situated  on  the  south  bank  of  the  river,  at  a 
bend  where  the  stream  at  that  time  turned  to  enter  the 
lake.  The  site  is  now  occupied  by  a  commercial  house 
on  which  is  a  commemorative  tablet.  It  consisted 
of  two  block  houses,  one  at  the  southeast  and  the 
other  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the  enclosure,  which 
was  surrounded  by  a  stout  palisade  of  timber.  There 
was  a  subterranean  passage  to  the  river,  which  might 
have  been  used  as  a  means  of  escape  in  an  emer- 
gency, or  to  supply  water  to  the  garrison  in  case  of  a 


siege.  At  the  west  end  of  the  enclosure  was  a  log 
house  occupied  by  the  United  States  Indian  Agency. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  1812,  Captain  Heald, 
commanding  Fort  Dearborn,  received  orders  from 
General  Hull,  at  Detroit,  to  evacuate  the  fort  and 
march  his  men  to  Detroit  overland,  to  join  the  garri- 
son there.  Captain  Heald  at  once  prepared  to  move, 
and,  as  a  final  act,  distributed  all  the  provisions  on 
hand  among  the  Indians.  On  the  morning  of  August 
15,  1812,  the  little  company  set  out  from  the  fort, 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  settlers  with  their  wives 
and  children,  who  were  too  fearful  of  the  Indians  to 
remain  in  the  absence  of  the  soldiers.  The  party 
moved  along  the  lake  shore,  and  at  a  point  where  now 
is  Eighteenth  Street  the  Indians  attacked  them,  kill- 
ing loo  men,  10  women,  and  20  children —  practically 
the  entire  party.  Then  the  Indians  burned  the  fort. 
It  was  rebuilt  in  1816,  but  was  not  permanently  garri- 
soned, and  in  1836  it  was  abandoned  as  an  army  post. 
The  scene  of  the  massacre  is  now  marked  by  a  monu- 
ment, ornamented  with  Indian  figures  in  bronze. 


10 


FORT  DEARBORN 


THE  CHICAGO  RIVER  NEAR  WOLF  POINT,  1833. 


1830  Mr.  Elijah  Wentworth  opened  at  "  The 
Forks,"  on  the  north  branch  of  the  river,  what 
was  probably  the  first  hotel  in  Chicago.  It  was 
called  the  Wolf  Point  Hotel,  and  on  its  creak- 
ing signboard  a  wolf  was  displayed,  but  whether  the 
point  itself  derived  its  name  from  that  circumstance 
or  from  another  will  ever  be  a  disputed  question. 
Some  authorities  declared  that  the  point  on  the  river 
bank  was  famous  among  very  early  settlers  as  a  place 
of  resort  for  wolves,  and  others  insisted  that  an 
Indian  chief  named  Wolf  had  resided  on  the  point  or 
was  buried  there.  Whatever  the  origin  of  the  name, 
certain  it  is  that  three  of  the  earliest  hotels  in  Chicago 
were  located  at  or  near  Wolf  Point.  About  the  time 
Elijah  Wentworth  flung  his  sign,  with  its  effigy  of  a 
wolf,  to  the  breeze,  Samuel  Miller  opened  a  tavern  in 
a  small  log  cabin  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  north 
branch.  This  was  known  as  Miller's  Hotel,  and 
some  historians  insist  that  it  preceded  the  Wolf  Point 
Hotel  in  the  field.  The  other  hotel  in  the  neighbor- 
hood was  the  Sauganash,  afterward  famed  as  a 


meeting  place  of  politicians,  its  builder  and  owner, 
Mark  Beaubien,  continuing  the  business  after  Miller 
retired  from  the  field  in  1834,  and  the  name  of  the 
Wolf  Point  had  been  changed  successively  to  the 
Travelers'  Home  and  the  Western  Stage  House.  By 
a  strange  coincidence  this,  the  first  hotel  in  Chicago, 
ended  its  public  career  the  same  year  that  its  princi- 
pal rival,  Miller's  Hotel,  was  closed,  and  when  Mark 
Beaubien  retired  he  turned  over  the  business  of  the 
Sauganash  to  Mrs.  Murphy,  who  at  once  dropped  the 
picturesque  Indian  name  of  the  place  and  called  it 
the  Exchange  Coffee  House.  Here  John  Wentworth, 
afterward  a  famous  mayor  of  Chicago,  and  many 
other  public  characters  identified  with  the  earl}' 
history  of  Chicago,  lived.  Their  presence  attracted 
to  the  coffee  house  the  best  known  public  men  of  that 
day,  and  around  its  tables  were  discussed  the  various 
questions  of  the  hour,  both  local  and  national.  The 
old  building  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1851,  after  hav- 
ing held  its  own  for  twenty  years  as  the  center  of 
the  hotel  life  of  the  city. 


12 


>1 


HOTEL,  WOLF  POINT 


FRINK  &  WALKER'S  STAGE  COACH  OFFICE,  1850. 


1  HAT  the  railroad  station  is  to  the 
country  town  to-day,  Frink  &  Walker's 
stage  coach  office  was  to  early  Chi- 
cago—  the  center  of  public  interest 
several  times  a  day,  the  place  where  strangers  arrived 
in  town,  where  residents  set  out  upon  long  and  often 
hazardous  journeys,  where  the  mail  was  received  and 
dispatched  —  in  short,  the  transportation  center  of 
the  growing  city.  From  1832  until  the  coming  of  the  . 
first  railroad  in  1848,  the  stage  coaches  of  Frink  & 
Walker  were  the  only  link  connecting  Chicago  with 
the  outside  world,  and  for  several  years  after  the 
primitive  locomotives  had  come  puffing  in  and  out  of 
town,  the  stages  continued  to  run  regularly,  carry- 
ing passengers  and  mail  to  and  from  many  places  not 
reached  by  the  first  railroads.  Even  before  Chicago 
was  incorporated  as  a  village,  the  firm  established  its 
first  stage  line,  in  1832,  to  Galena.  Oddly  enough, 
that  town  was  also  the  terminus  of  the  first  railroad. 
As  settlements  increased  in  number,  Frink  &  Walker 
met  the  growing  demands  by  establishing  new  lines 


of  coaches  to  all  parts  of  the  Northwest,  as  far  as 
Milwaukee  and  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  on  the  south 
a  line  extended  to  St.  Louis.  The  stage  coach  office, 
from  which  all  the  coaches  departed,  and  which 
was  usually  surrounded  by  an  interested  group  of 
idlers,  was  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Dearborn  and 
Lake  streets.  Many  of  the  stages,  especially  those 
obliged  to  traverse  muddy  roads,  were  equipped  with 
six  horses,  and,  in  addition  to  the  skillful  driver,  car- 
ried a  postillion ,  who  blew  a  horn  gaily  when  the  stage 
was  pulling  out,  and  played  a  fanfare  on  its  arrival,  to 
notify  the  idlers  that  the  stage  was  in  with  the  mail 
and  passengers.  Now  and  again  the  passengers  and 
drivers  on  these  coaches  had  a  brush  with  the  Indi- 
ans on  lonely  stretches  of  the  road,  but  more  often 
their  experiences  were  confined  to  struggles  with  the 
deep  mud  of  the  roads  through  the  woods  and  across 
the  prairies.  The  extension  of  the  railroad  lines  to 
all  parts  of  the  territory  reached  by  the  stages  led  to 
the  abandonment  of  a  picturesque  feature  of  life  in 
early  Chicago. 


STAGE  COACH  OFFICE 


THE  LAST  COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTT  AW  ATOMIES,  1833. 


N  HISTORIC  gathering,  which  meant  much, 
not  only  for  Chicago  but  for  the  whole 
country,  was  the  Last  Council  of  the  Pot- 
tawatomie  Indians  with  Commissioners  of 
the  United  States  Government,  held  in  Chicago,  Sep- 
tember 26,  1833.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty  signed 
that  day  in  the  little  Indian  village  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Chicago  River,  the  Pottawatomies  and  several 
other  tribes  of  Indians  ceded  to  the  Government  all 
of  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  unimportant  reservations.  The 
matter  had  been  under  discussion  at  Washington  for 
some  time,  and  during  the  summer  of  1833  word  was 
sent  to  the  Indian  tribes  interested  that  Commis- 
sioners of  the  United  States  Government  would  meet 
them  in  Chicago  in  September  of  that  year  to  nego- 
tiate a  treaty.  Fully  5,000  Indians  flocked  into  the 
village  in  the  last  days  of  August,  and  tepees  by  the 
thousand  were  erected  along  the  banks  of  the  river. 
The  three  Commissioners,  G.  B.  Porter,  T.  J.  V.  Owen, 
and  William  Weatherford,  had  been  supplied  with 


rations  by  the  Government  to  serve  out  to  the  Indi- 
ans during  the  negotiations,  and  a  supply  house  for 
their  storage  and  distribution  was  built  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river,  opposite  Fort  Dearborn,  near  the 
present  site  of  the  Rush  Street  bridge.  In  the  pre- 
liminary council  the  Indians  were  not  disposed  to 
accept  the  Government  proposals,  and  for  several 
days  things  were  at  a  standstill.  The  distribution  of 
rations,  however,  had  a  marked  effect,  and  a  promise 
of  annuities  from  the  Government  influenced  the  old 
chiefs  favorably.  On  September  26th,  in  the  tempo- 
rary structure,  the  treaty  was  signed,  by  the  terms  of 
which  the  Indians  ceded  their  lands  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  to  the  Government  and  promised  to 
move  west  of  that  river.  By  the  Government  they 
were  given  a  reservation  equal  in  extent  to  the  lands 
ceded,  some  5,000,000  acres,  on  the  western  line  of 
Missouri,  besides  $530,000  in  cash  as  indemnity  and 
in  annuities.  Within  two  years  the  Indians  had 
moved  out  of  the  ceded  territory  into  the  new  hunt- 
ing grounds. 


16 


COUNCIL  OF  THE  POTTAW ATOMIES 


THE  FIRST  BRIDGE  ACROSS  THE  CHICAGO  RIVER,  1834. 


HE  first  bridge  in  Chicago  was  constructed 
in  1834,  at  Dearborn  Street,  to  furnish  easy 
and  rapid  communication  between  the 
settlements  on  either  bank  of  the  river, 
which  afterward  came  to  be  known  as  the  north  and 
south  divisions  of  the  city.  Prior  to  the  construction 
of  the  bridge  there  was  a  ferry  at  Dearborn  Street,  a 
wide,  flat-bottomed  boat  attached  to  a  stout  cable 
and  drawn  across  the  stream  by  hand,  carrying 
freight,  passengers,  and  domestic  animals  from  one 
section  of  the  village  to  the  other.  In  1834  it  was 
determined  to  supplant  this  primitive  service  by  a 
wooden  bridge,  and  the  ferry  was  removed  to  Rush 
Street,  where  it  did  service  until  1856.  The  bridge 
at  Dearborn  Street  was  200  feet  long,  with  a  draw 
of  sixty  feet  at  one  end.  Considerable  opposition  to 
the  bridge  was  manifested  by  some  of  the  citizens  for 
various  reasons.  It  was  said  that  it  obstructed 
navigation,  and  timorous  pedestrians  were  sometimes 
startled  by  its  "  gallows  "  arrangement  at  either  end, 
when  it  was  encountered  suddenly  at  night.  The 


machinery  by  which  the  draw  was  operated  became 
deranged  upon  one  occasion,  and  for  two  days  and 
nights  the  draw  remained  open.  Then  a  movement 
was  begun  looking  to  the  removal  or  destruction  of 
the  bridge,  and,  as  the  city  had  been  incorporated  by 
that  time,  the  City  Council  was  called  upon  to  act. 
Yielding  to  the  popular  clamor,  the  council  ordered 
the  bridge  removed,  and  in  1839  it  was  destroyed. 
The  result  was  not  as  satisfactory  as  had  been 
anticipated.  Merchants  and  shopkeepers  on  Dear- 
born Street  found  their  trade  seriously  affected  by 
the  diversion  of  commerce  and  pedestrians  from  that 
street  to  the  ferry,  and  when  in  1840  it  was  proposed 
to  erect  a  bridge  at  Clark  Street,  an  effort  was  made 
to  have  the  new  structure  placed  at  Dearborn  Street 
on  the  original  bridge  site.  This  proposition  met 
with  defeat  in  the  council,  Clark  Street  got  the  new 
bridge,  and  Dearborn  Street  remained  without  one 
until  1889,  when  the  present  iron  bridge  was  placed 
in  position.  Monroe,  Franklin,  and  La  Salle  streets 
are  the  only  down-town  streets  without  bridges. 


18 


DEARBORN   STREET   BRIDGE 


THE  FIRST  GRAIN  ELEVATOR  IN  CHICAGO,  1838. 


HE  first  shipment  of  wheat  from  Chicago 
was  made  in  1838  and  consisted  of  seventy- 
eight  bushels.  Prior  to  that  time  the  resi- 
dents of  the  city  had  consumed  all  of  the 
grain  sent  in  from  the  surrounding  country,  but  after 
Newberry  &  Dole  made  that  first  shipment  from  the 
city  that  was  destined  to  be  the  grain  market  of  the 
world,  they  found  their  trade  increasing  and  decided 
to  build  an  elevator  in. which  to  store  the  grain  until 
it  was  shipped.  It  was  not  a  large  or  pretentious 
structure,  that  first  grain  elevator,  but  it  was  the 
forerunner  of  the  elevators  of  Chicago,  which  last  year 
held  more  than  91,000,000  bushels  of  grain.  When 
Newberry  &  Dole  had  built  their  elevator  in  1838,  the 
wheat  was  hoisted  to  an  upper  story  by  hand-power, 
and  when  they  received  orders  from  the  East  for  3,678 
bushels  —  a  very  gratifying  increase  in  the  business 
from  seventy  -  eight  bushels  of  the  previous  year  — 
the  wheat  was  run  down  a  spout  to  the  deck  of  the 
schooner  "  Osceola,"  and  Chicago's  grain  business 
was  then  reallv  begun.  In  1841  the  shipments  had 


increased  to  40,000  bushels,  and  in  that  year  a  new 
elevator,  operated  by  horse-power,  was  built.  The 
animal  operated  the  machinery  through  the  agency 
of  a  treadle,  and  when  the  treadle  was  removed  to 
an  upper  story  it  was  necessary  to  haul  the  horse  up 
also  with  ropes  and  pulleys.  The  first  steam-power 
elevator  was  built  in  1854  by  the  firm  composed  of 
George  Dole  and  George  Armour.  They  built  on  the 
south  branch  of  the  river  a  structure  312  feet  long, 
80  feet  wide,  and  130  feet  high  —  much  more  like 
the  monster  elevators  of  to-day  than  was  the  humble 
building  of  Newberry  &  Dole  in  1838.  When  this 
steam-power  elevator  was  constructed  in  1854,  the 
shipments  of  grain  from  Chicago  had  reached  a  total 
of  13,132,501  bushels  —  quite  an  advance  from  the 
seventy-eight  bushels  of  sixteen  years  before.  All  of 
this  grain  was  carried  to  the  East  by  a  large  fleet  of 
lake  schooners,  and  the  tariffs  for  freight  were  so  high 
that  in  some  cases  the  vessel  owner  drew  one-half  the 
sum  for  which  the  grain  sold  in  Buffalo.  As  is  well 
known,  Chicago  is  now  the  grain  market  of  the  world. 


20 


FIRST  GRAIN   ELEVATOR 


THE  FIRST  RAILWAY  STATION  IN  CHICAGO,  1849. 


HE  "Old  Galena  Depot"  was  the  first  rail- 
road station  in  Chicago.  It  was  built  in  the 
winter  of  1848-49  and  situated  on  the  corner 
of  West  Kinzie  and  Canal  streets.  The 
Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad  Company  was 
incorporated  January  18,  1836,  eleven  years  before  the 
construction  of  the  road  was  begun,  and  twelve  years 
before  the  first  train  was  run,  November  21,  1848, 
between  this  city  and  the  Desplaines  River,  a  dis- 
tance of  only  ten  miles.  The  enterprise  did  not  actually 
start  until  after  the  original  charter  was  amended 
in  1847,  when  the  stock  books  of  the  company  were 
opened  for  subscriptions.  Not  Eastern  capitalists, 
but  Illinois  farmers  and  Chicago  merchants,  were 
asked  to  subscribe.  When  their  subscriptions,  or 
pledges,  had  amounted  to  $350,000  the  work  at  the 
east  end  of  the  road  was  commenced,  but  not  inside 
the  city  limits,  which  were  at  Halsted  Street.  The 
Common  Council  refused  the  company  the  right  of 
way  into  the  city.  But  when  the  first  locomotive, 
the  "  Pioneer,"  arrived  in  the  harbor,  the  company 


was  permitted  to  lay  down  a  single  strap-iron  track 
on  which  to  run  out  the  engine  and  material.  Then 
the  Common  Council  reconsidered  the  question  and 
freely  granted  the  right  of  way.  There  was  no  depot 
until  after  the  trains  were  running  to  the  Fox  River. 
Passengers  entered  the  cars  and  left  them  on  the 
open  prairie.  There  was  a  doorless  cabin  for  the 
single  engine,  which  barely  sufficed  to  shield  it  from 
the  storms  when  at  rest.  The  building  of  the  depot 
was  delayed  because  of  a  rivalry  between  the  west 
and  the  north  sides  for  the  location,  but  in  the  winter 
of  1848-49  a  wooden  depot  was  built.  The  main 
part  was  of  two  stories,  mounted  with  an  observa- 
tory for  the  train  starter.  There  was  a  waiting- 
room  and  a  ticket  office  on  the  ground  floor.  An 
outside  stairway  led  to  the  upper  story,  where  the 
offices  of  the  company  and  the  telegraph  operator 
were  located.  The  first  depot  at  Wells  Street  was 
likewise  of  wood  and  was  built  in  1851.  The  present 
station,  known  as  the  North- Western,  was  erected 
in  1873. 


22 


FIRST  RAILWAY  STATION 


THE  GREAT  FLOOD  IN  THE  CHICAGO  RIVER,  1849. 


NTIL  Chicago  was  devastated  by  the  great 
fire  of  1871,  the  most  momentous  public 
calamity  in  the  annals  of  the  young  city 
was  the  great  flood  which  swept  down  the 
river  on  March  12,  1849,  carrying  away  bridges, 
tearing  vessels  by  the  score  from  their  moorings, 
destroying  ships  and  wharves,  and  spreading  terror 
throughout  the  city.  The  winter  of  1848-49  had  been 
long  and  very  cold,  with  frequent  heavy  falls  of  snow. 
The  great  prairies  west  of  the  city,  drained  by  the 
Dcsplaines  River,  were  covered  with  snow  to  a  depth 
of  several  feet,  when,  in  the  early  days  of  March,  a 
sudden  thaw  set  in,  accompanied  by  a  heavy  and 
continued  rainfall.  The  mighty  volume  of  water  pro" 
duced  by  the  melting  snow  and  the  rain  was  too 
great  to  be  accommodated  by  the  bed  of  the  Des- 
plaines  River,  and  the  overflow  poured  across  the 
low-lying  country  between  the  Desplaines  and  the 
South  Branch  of  the  Chicago  River.  The  floating  ice 
on  the  south  branch,  hurried  forward  by  the  flood 
waters  toward  Lake  Michigan,  formed  a  jam  which 


caused  the  flood  to  back  up  and  spread  over  the 
surrounding  country.  But,  gathering  strength  from 
the  continuous  rainfall  and  the  melting  snows,  the 
waters  finally  burst  the  ice-jam  and  carried  it, 
whirling  and  grinding,  down  the  south  branch  to  the 
city.  Canal  boats  and  lake  schooners,  moored  to 
the  wharves  for  the  winter,  were  torn  from  their 
fastenings  and  carried  onward  by  the  rushing  waters. 
The  bridge  at  Bridgeport  was  swept  away  in  a 
moment,  and  added  its  weight  to  the  destroying 
force  which  went  crashing  forward  to  the  Randolph 
Street  bridge.  That,  too,  gave  way  before  the  flood, 
which  had  been  gathering  strength  as  it  traveled 
toward  the  lake,  and  the  whole  mass  was  hurled 
against  the  State  Street  bridge,  where  a  bend  in  the 
river  served  to  stay  its  onward  rush.  The  ice,  boats, 
and  shattered  bridges  piled  up  against  the  State 
Street  structure  and  the  waters  whirled  onward  to 
the  lake.  Forty  vessels  were  destroyed,  twelve  drifted 
free  on  the  lake,  and  not  a  bridge  was  left  intact 
when  the  flood  subsided.  The  loss  was  $1 50,000. 


24 


FLOODED  RIVER 


THE  ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  RAILROAD  STATION,  1856. 


LT  WAS  after  twenty  years  of  agitation,  followed 
by  legislation  in  Congress  and  in  the  State 
Legislature,  that  the  first  train  entered  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad  Station  in  1855.  As 
early  as  1830  the  idea  of  a  railroad  running  length- 
wise through  the  center  of  the  State  had  been  put 
forward  by  many  prominent  people,  and  in  1835  Judge 
Sidney  Breese,  then  on  the  circuit  bench,  issued  a 
letter  to  the  public,  pointing  out  the  advantages  which 
would  accrue  to  the  State  from  such  a  railroad. 
Later,  as  United  States  Senator,  he  urged  the  pas- 
sage of  a  bill  granting  2,595,000  acres  of  public  lands 
to  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company.  Stephen 
A.  Douglas,  as  Representative  and  as  Senator,  also 
championed  the  proposition,  and  the  outcome  of  the 
agitation  was  the  incorporation  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  Company,  under  a  special  act  of  the  Legis- 
lature, in  1852.  The  company  agreed  to  build  700 
miles  of  railroad  in  Illinois,  the  main  line  from  Cairo 
to  La  Salle,  and  from  that  point  branches  to  Chicago 
and  Galena.  In  1855  the  line  was  finished  and  the 


first  train  entered  Chicago.  Right  of  way  along  the 
lake  shore,  as  far  as  the  south  pier  of  the  inner  harbor, 
had  been  granted  by  the  City  Council  and  the  Legis- 
lature, the  strip  included  in  the  right  of  way  being 
approximately  300  feet  wide;  but  provision  was 
made  that  the  railroad  should  be  built  at  least  400 
feet  from  Michigan  Avenue,  and  for  that  reason  the 
track  was  constructed  on  piles  part  of  the  way.  The 
station  was  built  at  the  foot  of  Randolph  Street,  and 
was  an  imposing  structure  for  those  days,  being  500 
feet  long  and  180  feet  wide.  It  was  also  used  as  a 
terminal  station  by  the  Michigan  Central  and  the 
Chicago  &  St.  Louis  railroads.  The  building  was 
destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1871  and  was  not  rebuilt, 
inferior  structures  being  occupied  until  1893  when  the 
present  splendid  station  was  erected  at  Park  Row. 
The  site  of  the  original  station,  which  was  not  wholly 
cleared  of  the  ruins  of  the  great  fire  for  nearly  twenty 
years,  is  now  used  as  a  terminal  of  the  railroad's 
immense  suburban  traffic.  Many  famous  people  first 
viewed  Chicago  at  the  old  station. 


26 


jxi 


FIRST  TRAIN  ON   ILLINOIS  CENTRAL  R.  R. 


CLARK  STREET,  BETWEEN  LAKE  AND  RANDOLPH  STREETS,  1857. 


HE  business  center  of  Chicago  from  1840 
until  about  1860  was  on  Clark  Street,  in 
the  first  two  or  three  blocks  south  of  the 
river.  This  was  brought  about  largely  by 
the  construction  of  the  Clark  Street  bridge  in  1840. 
Merchants  and  small  shopkeepers  sought  locations 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  bridge,  where  the  traffic 
was  greatest,  and  when  both  sides  of  Clark  Street 
were  occupied  by  commercial  houses,  South  Water 
Street  and  Lake  Street,  for  three  or  four  blocks  east 
and  west  of  Clark  Street,  were  filled  up  with  business 
houses,  hotels,  and  offices  of  professional  men.  On 
the  east  side  of  Clark  Street,  in  that  neighborhood, 
the  post  office  was  located,  and  here,  too,  were  the 
newspaper  offices  of  the  principal  journals,  the  print- 
ing house  of  Rand,  McNally  &  Company,  and  sixteen 
banks,  including  the  bank  of  George  Smith,  a  wealthy 
Scotch  banker,  lately  deceased  in  London.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  greater  portion  of  the  city's 
business  was  done  in  those  two  blocks  on  Clark  Street, 
and  that  the  leading  hotels  of  the  city  were  in  the 


neighborhood,  the  street  was  not  paved  until  1856, 
and  then  it  was  the  first  street  in  the  city  to  be  so 
improved.  It  was  planked  in  1849,  but  the  drainage 
was  on  the  surface,  in  gutters  running  to  the  river, 
and  when  sewers  were  constructed  in  1855,  preliminary 
to  the  paving,  the  surface  of  the  street  was  raised 
to  eleven  feet  above  datum.  In  1857  it  was  raised 
four  feet  more,  and  in  1871,  after  the  great  fire,  an 
additional  two-foot  raise  made  a  total  raise  of  fourteen 
feet  above  its  original  level.  When  this  grading  was 
begun  in  1855,  and  for  many  years  thereafter,  several 
of  the  sidewalks  remained  at  the  old  grade,  while 
adjoining  walks  were  raised  to  conform  to  the  new 
conditions,  and  the  result  was  a  succession  of  steep 
steps,  which  gave  the  principal  street  of  the  city  a 
most  unattractive  and  unfinished  appearance.  This 
defect  was  gradually  wiped  out,  as  one  property 
owner  after  another  brought  his  lot  line  up  to  grade, 
and  the  destruction  of  the  old  buildings  by  the  great 
fire  hastened  the  improvement.  When  the  city  was 
rebuilt  the  buildings  were  all  at  grade. 


28 


CLARK  STREET 


THE  OGDEN  RESIDENCE  AFTER  THE  FIRE  OF  1871. 


'HERE  the  imposing  front  of  the  New- 
berry  Library  building  is  now  to  be 
seen,  just  north  of  Washington  Square 
on  North  Clark  Street,  stood  for  many 
years  the  residence  of  Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  notable 
among  hundreds  of  similar  comfortable  family  man- 
.  sions  for  the  fact  that  it  was  the  only  building  left 
standing  on  the  north  side  after  the  great  fire  of  1871 
had  swept  over  the  city.  It  was  a  two-story  frame 
building,  with  a  mansard  roof,  built  according  to  a 
style  of  architecture  very  popular  among  builders  of 
residences  in  the  days  before  the  conflagration  which 
leveled  Chicago.  Built  in  1856  by  Mr.  Ogden,  as  a 
family  residence,  its  hospitable  walls  had  sheltered 
all  that  was  best  in  Chicago  society  many  times,  for 
Mr.  Ogden  was  not  only  a  prosperous  lawyer,  who 
attracted  to  his  home  the  brilliant  minds  of  the  city, 
but  he  was  a  brother  of  William  B.  Ogden,  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  Chicago,  who  has  been  recognized,  not 
only  by  his  own  but  by  later  generations,  as  one  of 
Chicago's  greatest  citizens.  All  around  this  home 


the  fire  raged  for  twenty-five  hours,  from  its  inception 
on  the  west  side,  on  the  night  of  October  gth,  until  it 
died  out  at  Clark  Street  and  Fullerton  Avenue  the 
next  night.  From  Congress  Street  north  to  the  city 
limits  not  a  building  was  left  standing,  except  the 
Ogden  residence,  and  by  some  strange  providence 
it  was  not  even  scorched.  The  great  elm  trees  in 
Washington  Square,  and  in  the  grounds  around  the 
house  itself,  may  have  served  to  check  the  flames  in 
a  measure,  but  all  the  other  trees  in  the  path  of  the 
conflagration  were  but  bare  and  blackened  stumps 
after  the  fire  had  passed  over  them.  The  rapidity 
with  which  the  great  fire  spread  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that,  originating  near  Halsted  and  Twelfth  streets  at 
nine  o'clock  at  night,  it  had  destroyed  much  of  the 
west  side,  wiped  out  the  business  district  of  the  city 
and  the  south  side  as  far  as  Congress  Street,  and 
spread  to  Maple  Street  on  the  north  side  by  seven 
o'clock  the  next  morning.  Thus  it  had  passed  the 
Ogden  residence  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning, 
leaving  it  unscathed. 


30 


OGDEN   HOUSE   AFTER   THE  FIRE 


THE  ROCK  CUT  IN  THE  DRAINAGE  CANAL,  1899. 


kARTH  was  first  broken  in  the  construction 
of  the  Drainage  Canal  in  the  rock  cut  below 
Lemont,  September  3,  1892.  Between  that 
time  and  January  17,  1900,  the  date  on  which 
the  water  was  admitted  to  the  channel,  12,265,000  cubic 
yards  of  solid  rock  were  removed.  This  mass  of  rock 
extended  from  Willow  Springs  to  Lockport  and  was 
15  miles  long,  160  feet  wide,  and  26  feet  thick. 
Its  removal  engaged  the  energies  of  thousands  of 
men  nearly  seven  years,  and  required  the  employ- 
ment of  the  most  highly  improved  cutting,  blasting, 
and  hoisting  machinery.  It  was  a  tremendous  task, 
more  momentous  in  its  way  than  the  building  of 
the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  for  its  results  are  to  have  a 
direct  effect  upon  the  health  of  millions  of  people, 
and  possibly  upon  the  commerce  of  a  nation.  From 
Robey  Street,  where  the  Drainage  Canal  practically 
begins,  to  Willow  Springs,  the  work  of  excavation 
was  done  in  earth  and  glacial  drift,  loose  rock,  and 
sand.  The  lower  fifteen  miles  of  the  channel,  how- 
ever, from  Willow  Springs  to  Lockport,  was  in  solid 


rock,  and  the  contractors  who  undertook  the  hercu- 
lean task  of  removing  it  found  much  to  contend  with. 
The  sides  of  the  channel  were  cut  down  vertically  by 
channeling  machines,  driven  by  compressed  air,  and 
the  rock  was  drilled  for  dynamite  charges  by  air 
drills.  The  average  daily  output  of  rock  for  the 
month  of  June,  1895,  reached  21,365  cubic  yards, 
requiring  the  use  of  eight  tons  of  dynamite.  The 
largest  amount  of  rock  removed  in  any  one  month 
was  in  August,  1894,  when  413,164  cubic  yards  of  rock 
were  taken  out  of  the  cut  by  all  the  contractors,  a 
record  which  has  probably  never  been  equaled  in  any 
similar  work.  In  certain  places  where  the  natural 
stone  walls  of  the  channel  crumbled  or  were  missing, 
smooth  walls  of  cut  stone  were  built,  so  that  the 
entire  course  of  the  canal  from  Willow  Springs  to 
Lockport  is  lined  with  stone  walls  as  smooth  and  per- 
fect as  those  of  a  monster  building.  At  Lockport, 
where  the  channel  ends,  the  rock  cut  widens  to  a 
windage  basin  of  sufficient  width  to  allow  the  turning 
of  the  largest  ships  the  canal  will  carry. 


32 


DRAINAGE   CANAL 


THE  WORLD'S  COLUMBIAN  EXPOSITION  OF   1893. 


HE  most  splendid  spectacular  feature  of 
the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  held  in 
Chicago  in  1893,  and  the  one  which  doubt- 
less will  remain  longest  in  the  memory  of 
every  visitor,  was  the  magnificent  Court  of  Honor. 
Artists,  sculptors,  architects,  and  landscape  gardeners 
vied  with  one  another  to  make  it  the  most  beautiful 
and  memorable  picture  of  the  great  World's  Fair,  and 
they  succeeded  beyond  their  expectations.  The  cen- 
tral feature  of  the  Court  was  the  Grand  Basin,  a 
shimmering  lake  over  whose  surface  •  gondolas  and 
electric  launches  moved  constantly,  by  night  under 
the  shifting  beams  of  mammoth  electric  searchlights 
playing  on  the  basin  from  the  roofs  of  the  surround- 
ing buildings.  These  were  the  most  imposing  archi- 
tectural triumphs  of  the  Exposition — the  Administra- 
tion, Manufactures,  Mining,  Electricity,  Agricultural, 
and  Machinery  buildings.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the 
Grand  Basin  stood  the  famed  statue  of  the  Republic, 
an  heroic  female  figure  more  than  fifty  feet  in  height, 
covered  with  gold  leaf,  which  shone  under  the  sum- 


mer sun  in  marked  contrast  with  the  white  buildings 
around  the  basin  and  the  Peristyle  immediately  be- 
hind the  statue.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the  Grand 
Basin,  and  facing  the  splendid  statue  of  the  Repub- 
lic, was  M'Monnies'  Fountain,  a  magnificent  sculp- 
tured group,  representing  a  dashing  quartette  of 
horses  drawing  Progress  forward  in  her  car.  Below 
it  a  fountain  leaped  and  tumbled  into  the  still  waters 
of  the  basin,  and  when  at  night  the  great  search- 
lights played  upon  the  fountain,  it  seemed  in  truth  as 
though  the  fiery  chargers  were  about  to  leap  from 
the  pedestal  into  the  flood  beneath.  The  basin  was 
surrounded  by  a  broad  promenade  and  railing,  and 
this  proved  one  of  the  most  popular  walks  in  the 
great  Exposition  grounds.  At  every  hour  of  the  day 
and  night  it  was  crowded  with  sightseers,  drinking 
in  the  beauties  of  the  spectacle.  Every  evening,  at 
sunset,  the  Angelus  sounded  softly  from  the  chimes 
in  the  tower  of  Machinery  Hall,  and  then  the  setting 
of  the  picture  was  complete  for  the  happy  thousands 
who  lingered  to  look  and  listen  once  again. 


34 


COURT  OF  HOMOS,   WORLD'S  FAIR 


THE  CHICAGO  RIVER  AT  LAKE  STREET  BRIDGE,  1900. 


the  bridge  across  the  Chicago  River  at 
Lake  Street  probably  the  best  view  of  the 
river,  and  of  the  commerce  which  it  carries 
on  its  bosom,  may  be  obtained.  Immedi- 
ately north  of  the  bridge  the  river  is  wider  than  it 
is  at  any  other  point,  for  it  is  there  that  the  north 
and  south  branches  of  the  stream  unite  to  form  the 
main  river.  Originally  the  currents  of  the  north  and 
south  branches,  flowing  together  at  that  point,  swept 
out  into  the  lake,  and  the  main  river  flowed  therefore 
almost  due  east;  but  the  sanitary  needs  of  the  city, 
and  the  engineering  feats  they  brought  about,  have 
worked  mighty  changes  in  these  latter  days,  and 
now  the  waters  of  the  lake  pour  into  the  main  chan- 
nel of  the  river  through  what  was  once  its  mouth, 
flow  to  the  west  until  the  old  merging  point  off  Lake 
Street  bridge  is  reached,  and  then  turn  sharply  south 
and  flow  down  through  the  Drainage  Canal  to  the 
Mississippi  River.  The  waters  of  the  north  branch, 
deprived  thus  of  their  natural  outlet,  do  not  flow  with 
their  old-time  force,  but  mingle  slowly  with  the  pure 


lake  water  which  rushes  to  the  south  under  Lake 
Street  bridge.  At  this  point,  too,  the  commerce  of 
the  river  divides,  to  a  certain  extent.  Until  Lake 
Street  bridge  is  reached,  the  main  channel  of  the 
stream  bears  craft  of  every  nature  in-bound  from  the 
lake  —  mighty  steel  steamers  laden  with  millions  of 
bushels  of  grain,  huge  freighters  bearing  immense 
stocks  of  coal,  and  old-fashioned  schooners  loaded 
to  the  water-line  with  cargoes  of  lumber.  'At  Lake 
Street  bridge  the  lanes  of  commerce  separate,  in 
many  instances.  Most  of  the  grain  elevators  and 
lumber  yards  are  located  on  the  south  branch,  and 
the  great  coal  yards  are  on  the  north  branch.  Hence 
the  endless  procession  of  freight  carriers  separates 
into  two  columns  at  Lake  Street  bridge,  and  each 
pursues  its  own  course.  To  the  east,  around  the  bend 
in  the  main  channel  of  the  river,  some  of  the  splendid 
passenger  steamers  which  ply  between  the  lake  ports, 
or  venture  out  with  gay  excursion  parties,  can  be  seen 
at  their  docks,  and  the  whole  panorama  is  one  of 
industry  and  intense  energy. 


36 


CHICAGO  RIVER  AT  LAKE   STREET   BRIDGE 


CHICAGO 
-  NATIONAL- 
BAN  K 


EQUITABLE 

TRUST 
COMPANY 

../*& 


HOME 
•  SAVINGS- 
BANK 


CHICAGO 

SAFE  DEPOSIT 

COMPANY 


I 


THE  CHICAGO  NATIONAL  BANK  BUILDING. 


HEN  the  new  build- 
ing of  the  Chicago 
National  Bank  was 
^projected  it  was 
aimed  to  produce  a 
structure  which  would 
immediately  suggest  to 
the  observer  that  it  was 
a  bank.  How  well  that 
idea  has  been  carried 
out  by  Jenney  &  Mun- 
die,  the  architects,  it 
needs  but  a  glance  at 
the  bank  building  to 
show  Of  the  Corin- 
thian order  of  architec- 
ture, with  ninety  feet 
front  on  Monroe  Street, 

and  four  immense  columns  fifty  feet  in  height  orna- 
menting its  facade,  the  building  is  a  symbol  of  solid- 
ity and  strength.  The  entrance  pavilion,  flanked  by 


the  Corinthian  columns,  is  brought  into  greater  promi- 
nence by  being  constructed  to  the  building  line,  while 
trie  east  and  west  bays,  on  either  side  of  it,  recede 
six  feet  to  the  line  on  which  the  front  wall  of  the 
building  is  constructed 

To  a  depth  of  fifty  feet  the  bank  building  is  four 
stories  in  height.  The  remainder  of  the  lot,  138  feet 
deep,  is  covered  by  the  banking-room,  one  story  in 
height  and  roofed  entirely  with  glass.  The  four-story 
portion  of  the  building  is  occupied  on  the  first  floor 
by  the  directors'  room  and  the  office  of  the  president 
of  the  bank  on  one  side  of  the  marble  entrance  hall, 
and  by  the  Home  Savings  Bank  on  the  other  side ; 
on  the  second  and  third  floors  are  the  offices  of  the 
Equitable  Trust  Company,  and  on  the  fourth  floor 
is  a  cafe  designed  exclusively  for  the  officers  and 
employes  of  the  Chicago  National  Bank,  the  Home 
Savings  Bank,  the  Equitable  Trust  Company,  and  the 
Chicago  Safe  Deposit  Company  These  institutions 
occupy  the  entire  building.  The  basement  is  fitted 
with  the  largest,  most  complete,  and  most  luxurious 


30 


safe  deposit  vaults  in  the  world.  Such,  in  brief  is  the  arrange- 
ment of  this  model  banking  building  which  has.  in  the  short 
time  it  has  been  occupied,  become  one  of  the  sights  of  the  city 
Passing  between  the  two  great  columns  of  Bedford 
stone  which  flank  the  entrance,  the  visitor 
finds  on  his  left  the  entrance  to  the 
Home  Savings  Bank.  No  more 
complete  and  compact  room 
could  be  designed  for  a  savings 
institution  Marble, mahogany, 
and  bronze  have  been  used  to 
build  this  savings  bank.  The 
floor  is  of  marble,  the  walls 
of  veined  statuary  marble  from 
a  famed  Italian  quarry,  and 
the  counters  and  wainscots  of 
green  Vermont  marble.  All 
of  the  railings  are  of  gleam- 
ing bronze,  and  wherever  wood 
is  used,  in  finish  or  furniture,  it  is 
mahogany.  The  electric  light  comes 
softened  from  the  ceiling  through  deep-green  glass 
globes,  and  an  artist's  taste  has  been  exercised 
in  the  colorings  and  decorations.  In  front  and 


Interior  Home  Savingt  Bank 


40 


near  the  east  wall  is  the  private  office  of  the  Presi- 
dent, with  a  directors'  room  opening  from  it,  all  finished 
in  the  prevailing  marble  and  mahogany.  The  marble 
counter  at  which  the  business  of  the  savings  bank  is 
conducted  extends  along  two  sides  of  the  room,  leav- 
ing ample  space  for  depositors  to  transact  their  bank- 
ing affairs,  and  at  the  same  time  not  requiring  them 
to  cover  a  great  extent  of  floor  space  in  going  from 
one  window  to  another.  The  bank,  as  arranged,  is 
a  model  of  compactness,  convenience,  and  comfort 
for  depositors,  coupled  with  beauty  and  taste  in  its 
equipment  and  decoration. 

Beyond  the  rooms  of  the  savings  bank,  after  pass- 
ing through  a  doorway  framed  in  the  whitest  of 
Carrara  marble  and  ornamented  with  a  magnificent 
bronze  grille,  the  visitor  steps  into  the  great  spacious 
bank-room.  It  is  a  delight  to  the  eye  of  even  the 
veriest  tyro  in  things  artistic.  Standing  there  in 
that  magnificent  doorway  and  viewing  the  splendid 
spectacle  gleaming  in  the  flood  of  light,  which  pours 
through  the  glass-paneled  ceiling,  the  observer  finds 
it  difficult  to  realize  that  this  is  a  bank,  a  place  of 
commercialism.  Rather  would  he  imagine  it  was 
an  art  gallery,  hung  round  with  masterpieces  for  an 


exhibition,  and  expressing  the  artistic  in  every  line 
and  tint  of  its  own  construction  and  coloring.  The 
great  open  space  before  the  counters,  which  par- 
tially inclose  three  sides  of  the  room,  is  floored  with 
Vermont  marble.  The  counters,  behind  which  the 
scores  of  tellers  and  clerks  are  busy  with  their 
duties,  are  of  green  marble,  as  are  the  bases.  But 
the  walls  of  the  great  room  to  a  point  a  few  feet 
below  the  line  of  the  ceiling  are  covered  with  inlaid 
panels  of  Pavanazzo  marble,  paneled  in  veined  stat- 
uary marble  from  Carrara.  The  effect  is  as  beauti- 
ful as  it  is  striking  and  artistic.  Nothing  in  the 
marble  quarries  of  the  western  continent  was  of  a 
high  enough  quality  for  the  walls  of  the  Chicago 
National  Bank  building.  Across  the  seas,  to  the 
quarries  centuries  old,  from  which  the  marble  for 
the  world's  masterpieces  in  sculpture  was  taken, 
went  the  order  for  the  precious  stuff  which  now 
gleams  upon  the  walls  of  the  bank  room.  With  it 
came  masters  in  handicraft,  Italians  made  cunning 
in  their  art  by  centuries  of  inheritance  and  with  infi- 
nite care  and  patience  the  marble  slabs  were  fitted 
together  and  cemented  into  place.  The  Palace  of 
the  Doges  has  no  finer  walls  or  more  artistically 


41 


Main  Banking  Room,  Chicago  National  Bank 


constructed  than  those  of  this  banking  room,  nor  could 
there  be  such,  for  these  walls  are  made  of  the  rarest 
and  most  beautiful  marble  that  man  has  yet  wrested 
from  the  bosom  of  the  earth. 

In  the  space  between  the  marble  panels  and  the 
glass  ceiling  are  sixteen  semicircular  oil  paintings  by 
Lawrence  C.  Earle.  Each  painting  represents  a  strik- 
ing scene  or  incident  in  the  history  of  Chicago,  from 
the  time  of  the  first  treaty  with  the  Indians  to  the 
present  time.  The  paintings  are  bold,  striking,  and 
convincing  in  idea  and  execution,  and  they  excite 
a  vast  amount  of  interest  and  commendation  among 
the  bank's  patrons  and  visitors.  On  the  right,  near 
the  entrance,  are  the  desks  of  the  vice-president,  the 
cashier,  and  assistant  cashier  of  the  bank,  behind  the 
green  marble  counter  which  extends  to  the  outer 
reception  room  of  the  president's  private  office.  On 
the  opposite  side  is  a  writing-room  for  women,  ex- 
quisitely furnished  in  mahogany  and  with  costly  rugs 
upon  the  marble  floors.  In  the  center  of  the  banking 
floor  are  the  desks  for  depositors  and  others  having 
business  with  the  bank,  at  which  various  commercial 
papers  are  prepared  for  presentation  at  the  windows, 
and  immediately  opposite  the  entrance  are  three  stock 


tickers,  giving  the  quotations  of  the  markets  of  the 
world. 

At  the  rear  of  the  banking  floor  are  ten  immense 
vaults  in  which  the  money,  valuables,  and  books  of 
the  bank  are  placed  at  the  close  of  each  day's  business. 
If  ever  anything  built  by  human  hands  was  made 
impregnable  to  assault  from  without,  this  business 
vault  of  the  Chicago  National  Bank  certainly  was. 
It  stands  three  stories  in  height  and  is  clear  of  the 
walls  on  every  side,  in  order  that  the  watchmen  may 
completely  encircle  it  in  their  rounds  at  night.  Attack 
from  the  outside  by  way  of  the  floor  or  ceiling  is 
equally  out  of  the  question,  the  surrounding  brick 
walls  being  four  feet  thick  in  the  basement,  three  feet 
thick  on  the  banking  floor,  and  two  feet  thick  above 
that.  Nor  were  ordinary  brick  and  mortar  used  in 
the  construction  of  this  fire-proof,  burglar-proof,  and 
mob-proof  vault.  Vitrified  brick  laid  in  Portland 
cement  compose  the  walls,  and  the  foundations  are 
made  up  of  a  series  of  steel  beams  crossing  one 
another  and  imbedded  in  concrete.  The  floors  and 
partitions  are  of  Bessemer  steel.  In  the  basement  of 
this  business  vault  is  a  large  room  where  the  old  bank 
records  are  kept  on  steel  shelves.  On  the  main  bank 


43 


money  floor  is  the  vault  for  the  bank's  securities  and  papers, 
and  valuables. 

If  ever  criminals  should  conceive   a  scheme  for  attempt- 
ing to  reach  the  interior  of  these  vaults,  they  would  find  their 
keenest  ingenuity  baffled.      All  the  experience  of  all  the 
safe-blowers  in  the  criminal  world  would 
count  for  naught  in  an  attack  on  these 
vaults.     They  would  resist  for  months 
the  onslaughts  of  the  most  desperate 
men,  however  well  they  might   be 
equipped  with   tools  and  explosives. 
In   these  vaults  there  are  none  of 
the  old-fashioned  screw  fastenings. 
The  corners  show  no  joints,  nor 
are   there  edges  anywhere 
where   an   opening  might 
be  found  for  a  wedge  to 
make  way  for  explosives. 
They  are  constructed  of 
chrome-steel  plates  welded 
together,  and  every  plate, 
before  being  placed  in 
position,  was  tested  and 
proved  to  be   drill-proof. 


Inside  the  Counters,  Chicago  National  Bank 


44 


The  Brooklyn  Chrome  Steel  Company  furnished  these  plates,  and 
they  are  as  safe  from  the  invasion  of  the  burglar  as  the  rocky  wall 
of  Gibraltar. 

The  business  vault  is  divided  into  four  compartments  which 
have  five  entrances,  each  of  which  is  protected  by  a  double  set  of 
massive  doors  of  chrome  steel.  Each  set  of  doors  opens  with  a 
time  lock,  and  when  they  are  closed  the  vault  is  not  only  burglar 
and  fire  proof,  but  water  and  air  proof.  Should  the 
time-lock  apparatus,  which  governs  one  set  of  the  doors, 
become  disarranged  through  accident,  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility of  the  tedious  and  vexing  delays 
that  have  embarrassed  banking  insti- 
tutions which  had  but  one  entrance 
to  the  business  vaults.  Either  of  the 
other  entrances  will  admit  employes 
to  the  vaults  in  this  steel  fortress 
when  the  eight-ton  doors  swing  open 
by  clockwork.  Notwithstanding  the 
immense  weight  of  these  vault  doors 
—  which  in  some  cases  reaches  the 
enormous  total  of  ten  tons — the  hinges 
are  so  arranged  that  the  doors  can  be 
swung  to  and  fro  by  the  strength  of 
one  man  with  as  much  ease  as  though 


Part  of  the  Clerical  Force 


45 


they  were  the  doors  of  an  ordinary  room,  the  weight 
being  balanced  on  a  line  passing  through  the  center 
of  the  door. 

Bronze  elevators,  operated  by  electricity  and  mov- 
ing in  a  shaft  inclosed  in  beautifully  designed  bronze 
scrollwork,  noiselessly  carry  the  visitor  to  the  upper 
floors  in  the  front  portion  of  the  building.  Here  are 
the  offices  of  the  Equitable  Trust  Company,  a  corpo- 
ration which  acts  as  executor  of  estates  and  performs 
all  the  other  functions  of  a  trust  company  designated 
by  law.  These  rooms  are  furnished  and  finished  in 
style  and  materials  in  keeping  with  the  other  parts 
of  the  splendid  building.  Soft  Smyrna  rugs  cover 
the  floors,  the  office  furniture  is  of  mahogany,  the 
counters  of  marble  and  bronze.  There  is  an  air  of 
elegance  and  wealth,  coupled  with  perfect  taste, 
about  the  whole  establishment,  which  is  usually  quite 
foreign  to  commercial  institutions.  The  general 
effect  of  the  trust  company's  office  is  akin  to  that  of 
the  lobby  of  a  modern  and  perfectly  appointed  hotel 
of  the  highest  class.  Rooms  for  the  officers  and 
directors  of  the  trust  company,  fitted  and  equipped 
on  the  same  scheme  of  beauty  and  completeness  as 
the  outer  offices,  are  provided. 


On  the  fourth  floor  of  the  building  has  been  estab- 
lished a  perfectly  equipped  cafe,  for  the  exclusive 
service  of  the  small  army  of  clerks  employed  in  the 
four  institutions  housed  under  the  roof  of  the  Chicago 
National  Bank  building.  The  room  for  the  bank  clerks 
is  large  and  comm.odious,  equipped  with  many  tables 
and  all  the  usual  furnishings  of  a  higher-class  cafe. 
Opening  from  it  are  lavatories  on  one  side  and  a  san- 
itary kitchen  on  the  other  On  this  kitchen,  in  which 
all  of  the  food  is  prepared,  much  time  and  thought 
was  expended,  and  the  result  is  a  place  which  would 
delight  the  most  enthusiastic  exponent  of  pure  food 
and  of  sanitary  arrangements  for  preparing  it.  The 
walls  are  tiled  in  gleaming  white,  and  everything  in 
the  place  is  as  clean  and  shining  as  constant  work 
can  make  it.  The  cooking  is  done  by  gas,  and,  in 
addition  to  the  principal  gas  range,  the  kitchen  is 
supplied  with  all  the  latest  appliances  the  inventive 
genius  of  man  and  woman  has  produced.  Here 
luncheon  is  prepared  daily  and  served  to  the. bank 
employes  far  more  rapidly,  economically,  and  satis- 
factorily than  can  be  done  at  public  restaurants. 
Upon  the  health  of  the  employes  of  a  bank  very 
much  depends,  and  as  their  health  is  so  closely  allied 


46 


to  their  diet,  the  management  of  the  bank  serves  a 
double  purpose  in  thus  equipping  a  cafe  for  their    , 
especial  use.      Not  only  are  the  employes  benefited 
by  the  conserving  of  their  health,  but  the  bank 
and  its  patrons  have  those  benefits  reflected  in 
the  excellent  and  effi- 
cient service  they 


Priuate  Room  of  the  President 

receive  from  healthy  and  contented  employes. 
A  large  room,  apart  from  the  main  cafe,  is 
the  luncheon  room  of  the  officers  and  directors 
of  the  various  institutions  included  in  the 


Credit  Department  and  Secretary's  Office 


47 


building.      The  room   is  paneled  in   mahogany  and 
the  walls  are  ornamented  by  framed  reproductions  of 
old-time  scenes  in  Chicago.     In  the  center 
of  the  room  is  a  great  round  table   at 
which  six  persons  may  be  seated,  and 
there  the  bank  officials  take  their 
luncheon  daily  in  peace, 
seclusion,  and  com- 
fort, discussing  busi- 
ness affairs  if    they 
will,  or  chatting  at 


Women 's  Roorr, 
48 


their  leisure,  safe  from 
the  noises  and  interruptions 
of  a  public  cafe  and  without 
the  necessity  of  a  journey  to 
and  from  a  club.    The  existence 
of  the  cafe  for  the  employes  and 
of  the  luncheon  room  for  the  bank 
officials,  within  the  walls  of  the  insti- 
tution, brings  about  what  may  be  termed 
a  family  gathering  daily,  at  the    luncheon 


hour,  and  obviates  the  annoyances  and  distractions  incident 
to  .leaving  the  building,  seeking  out  a  public  restaurant, 
waiting  for  a  meal  to  be  served,  and  risking  health  and 
digestion  by  eating  it. 

As  the  bank  building  is  much  lower  than  any  of 
its  neighbors,  the   problem  of  furnishing  an 
adequate  air  supply,  which 
should  be   free  from 
soot,  dirt,  and  im- 
purities of  every 
nature,   con- 
fronted the 
architects. 
The  roof  of 
the  bank  is 
in  a  well,  as 
it  were,  and 
currents    of 
air  laden  with 
dirt  of  all  kinds 
continually  circulate 
through  it.    For  a  period 
of   forty-five   days  experi- 
ments were  conducted  with  a  view  to  determining  the 


Directors'  Room 


49 


proper  height 
above  the  build- 
ing from  which 
the  air  might  be 
drawn  free  from 
these  impurities,  and 
when  that  point  was 
determined   a  complete 
and  interesting  system  of 
conducting,  washing, 
and  drying  the  air  was 
installed. 

In  the  basement 
there  is  an  immense 
blower  wheel,  102 
inches    in    diameter, 
which,   driven    by  an    electric 
motor  at  a  speed  of  150  revolutions 
per  minute,  draws  in  the  air  from  the  point 
determined  upon  above  the  roof.    The  initial 
velocity  of  the  air  thus  entering  the  building  is  about 
2,000  feet  per  minute,  which  approximates  the  speed 
of  a  twenty-miles-an-hour  wind.     This  is,  of  course, 
sensibly  reduced   by  the  various   processes  through 


which  the  air  is  afterward  passed.  During  the  winter 
months  the  air  is  drawn  immediately  over  a  great 
number  of  steam  coils,  which  raise  it  to  a  high  temper- 
ature; and  from  there  it  passes  into  another  chamber 
in  the  attic,  known  as  the  "  mixing  chamber,"  where 
it  is  mixed  with  cold  air  until  the  proper  temperature 
is  obtained.  This,  by  the  way,  is  determined  auto- 
matically by  temperature  regulators  which  are  in 
position  in  various  parts  of  the  bank,  so  that  the  air 
in  any  particular  room  may  be  supplied  as  warm  or  as 
cool  as  is  desired  by  the  occupants  of  that  room,  irre- 
spective of  the  temperature  of  the  other  rooms  in  the 
building.  After  being  brought  to  an  equable  temper- 
ature, according  to  the  season  of  the  year,  the  air  is 
forced  through  a  curtain  of  water  which  effectually 
washes  it  free  of  any  impurities  it  may  contain,  and 
the  dampness  resulting  from  this  process  is  removed 
by  the  passage  of  the  cleansed  air  current  through  a 
number  of  copper  baffle  plates.  Thus  washed,  dried, 
and  warmed  or  cooled,  as  the  season  demands,  the 
air  is  ready  for  the  lungs  of  the  hundreds  of  em- 
ployes and  patrons  of  the  banking  institution;  and  it 
is  allowed  to  flow  into  the  rooms  through  handsome 
bronze  register  openings,  situated  in  the  side  walls  of 


60 


Bank  Vault*  on  Main  Floor 


Equitable  Trust  Company's  Offices 


the  various  apartments,  at  heights  varying  from  eight 
to  twelve  feet  from  the  floor,  according  to  the  height 
of  the  rooms.  Another  blower  in  the  basement 
exhausts  the  foul  air  from  the  rooms,  drawing  it 
away  through  ducts  in  the  walls  near  the  floor,  or 
in  the  floor ;  and  so  delicately  is  this  system 
of  ventilation  arranged  that  there  is  never 
the  slightest  perception  of  a  draft  in  any  of 
the  rooms,  notwithstanding  all  the  air  in  the 
building  can  be  changed  in  fifteen  minutes. 
In  the  distribution  of  direct  heat  throughout 
the  building  by  means  of  steam  coils,  the 
automatic  system  of  regulation  is  in  use,  ther- 
mostats controlling  the  valves  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  they  open  when  the  thermometer 
indicates  a  certain  degree,  set  upon  a  dial, 
and  close  when  enough  steam  has  been 
supplied  to  raise  the  temperature  to  the 
desired  mark.  By  the  use  of  this  perfect 
system  of  heating  and  ventilation  the 
temperature  is  always  equably  main- 
tained, and  the  employes  and  patrons  of 
the  institutions  occupying  the  building 
escape  the  danger  and  discomfort  of  a 


62 


Entrance  to  Equitable  Trutt  Company'*  Office* 


Another  feature   in  the  construction  of  this  model  building, 
which   is  worthy   of  more   than   passing   notice,  since  it 
was  here  used  for  the  first  time  for  the  sup- 
port of  an  entire  building,  is  the  method 
in  which  the  foundations  were   sunk. 
When  the  site  for  the  bank  building  was 
cleared  of  the  old  structures,  it  was 
apparent  that 
the  or- 
dinary 


varying 
temperature, and" 

there  is  no  neces-  fmp/ojes'  Luncheon  /loom 

sity  for  opening  windows  in  summer, 
or  tampering  with  steam  coils  at  any 
season.     The  plant  from  which  the  heat  is  sup- 
plied, and  where  the  motors  are  operated  for  the 
ventilation  system,  is  in  an  adjoining  building, 
thus  obviating  the  possibility  of  noise,  or  the  jarring 
of  machinery  in  the  basement,  so  common  in  large  buildings. 


64 


method  of  foundation  building,  followed  in  narrow  quarters, 
was  impracticable.     Usually  the  side  walls  of  the  buildings 
on  either  side  of  the  new  site  are  entered  for  the 
foundation   of   steel   grillage   upon   which    the   side 
columns  of  the  new  structure   are  constructed. 
But  the  buildings  adjoining  the  site  of  the  new 
bank  building  were  not  constructed  to  stand 
anything  of  that  sort,  being  old  structures,  with 
walls  of  ordinary  thickness,  built  in  the  days 
before  steel    construction  was  introduced. 
The  driving  of  piles  to  a  sufficient  depth  to 
reach  hard-pan  was  also  consii 
difficult,  on  account  of  the   limited  space, 
but  dangerous  to  the  adjoining  buildings. 
Therefore   it  was  decided  to  use  what  is 
known  as  the  "mission  foundation,"  con- 
sisting of  concrete  piers  extending  down  to 
hard-pan.     In  this  method  of  foundation  mak- 
ing, wells  are  sunk  at  the  points  where  columns  are 
to  be  erected  for  the  building  construction,  the  walls 
protected  by  sheet  piling  and  heavy  hoops  until  the 
interior  of  the  well  is  filled  with  concrete.     The  wells  are  bell- 
shaped,  widening  at  the  bottom  to  6  feet  6  inches  and  7  feet 
4  inches,  according  to  the  weight  superimposed.      These  wells 

65 


Officers'  Luncheon  Roorr, 


were  driven  to  a  depth  of  seventy-three  feet  below 
the  street  line,  where  hard-pan  was  reached,  and 
when  the  concrete  was  poured  into  them  the  shields 
of  piling  were  left  intact.  Upon  this  foundation  the 
trusses  for  the  support  of  the  building  were  placed, 
and  engineering  experts  are  unanimous  in  declaring 
there  will  be  absolutely  no  settlement  of  the  struc- 
ture. From  a  point  twenty-five  feet  below  the  surface 
the  concrete  filling  was  rammed  hard.  The  building 
was  constructed  on  the  metal  skeleton  plan,  which 
was  first  introduced  by  W.  L.  B.  Jenney  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  Home  Insurance  building  in  this  city. 
In  this  method  of  construction  there  are  no  interior 
columns.  The  roof  of  the  main  banking  room,  which 
is  but  one  story  in  height,  is  carried  on  steel  trusses 
spanning  the  room  and  resting  on  columns  imbedded 
in  the  side  walls.  To  a  height  of  forty-five  feet  above 
the  glass  roof  of  the  banking  room  these  steel  col- 
umns are  extended  against  the  party  walls,  and,  as  a 
precautionary  measure  against  fires  in  the  old  build- 
ings adjoining  the  bank,  the  columns  are  braced  back 
to  the  trusses  and  do  not  depend  for  support  upon 


the  party  walls.  Thus,  should  a  serious  fire  wreck 
one  of  the  buildings  adjoining  the  bank,  the  side 
walls  of  the  bank's  vtpper  stories  would  stand  intact. 
The  steel  in  all  parts  of  the  building  is  of  the  quality 
known  as" fire-proofed";  in  fact,  in  every  detail  of  the 
bank's  construction  the  utmost  care  has  been  taken 
to  insure  against  decay  or  depreciation.  Neither  fire, 
time,  nor  any  of  the  elements  which  ordinarily  tend 
to  hasten  the  passing  of  structures  reared  by  the 
hand  of  man  will  leave  the  slightest  imprint  on  this 
splendid  building  for  many  years  to  come.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that,  should  such  a  condition 
of  affairs  be  deemed  advisable  in  the  future,  it  will 
be  standing  100  years  from  now,  practically  unim- 
paired, like  many  of  the  old  world's  triumphs  of 
architecture  which  have  defied  the  passing  centuries. 
In  this  connection  it  should  be  noted,  as  a  commen- 
tary upon  modern  methods  in  building  construction, 
that  while  succeeding  generations  labored  on  many 
of  the  architectural  gems  of  Europe,  the  Chicago 
National  Bank  building  was  erected  complete  in 
twelve  months 


66 


SAFE  DEPOSIT  VAULTS. 


the  basement 
JN   are  the  quar- 
ters  of  the 
Chicago  Safe 
Deposit  Com- 
p  a  n  y  ,  the 
largest,    most 
Complete,  and  most 
splendidly  furnished 
and  equipped  in  the 
world.    A  marble  stair- 
case   from   the    main 
entrance  to  the  bank- 
ing floor  leads  to  the 
vault  rooms,  and  the 
bronze  elevators  also 
carry  patrons  to  the 
doors.   Immediately 
before  the  visitor  is 
an   immense   marble 
counter,  topped  with  a 


heavy  bronze  railing,  behind  which  an  official  is  on 
duty.  To  the  left  is  a  public  writing  room,  finished 
in  marble,  with  a  mahogany  desk  and  chairs  to  be 
used  alike  by  visitors  and  patrons.  The  desk  is  fur- 
nished with  stationery,  and  the  room  is  softly  lighted 
by  electricity.  The  entresol  of  the  vaults  is  cut  off 
from  the  outside  world  by  two  huge  and  heavy  gates 
of  bronze,  ornamented  in  scrollwork  and  set  in  marble 
pilasters.  A  guard  at  the  gates  passes  those  having 
proper  credentials,  and  the  visitor  steps  into  a  mag- 
nificent marble  chamber  upon  which  the  electric  light 
falls  softly  from  above.  At  the  left  is  a  reception 
room  for  women,  furnished  quite  in  the  style  of  a 
similar  apartment  in  a  luxurious  residence.  A  uni- 
formed maid  is  in  attendance,  the  huge  mahogany 
table  in  the  center  of  a  splendid  rug  contains  a  score 
of  late  magazines,  and  the  chairs  invite  the  visitor  to 
rest  and  read.  At  one  side  of  the  room  is  an  open 
fireplace  topped  with  a  marble  mantel,  and  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  room  is  a  lavatory  for  women. 

At  the  opposite  end  of  the  reception  room  are 


Entrai 


ce  to  Safe  Deposit  Vaulti 
and  Banking  Room 


67 


Safe  Deposit  Vault.     Manager's  Department 

arranged  a  number  of  coupon 
rooms  and  committee  rooms, 
private  apartments  in  which  box  renters 
may  examine  their  securities  or  make 
up  their  accounts  secure  from  interrup- 
tion.    The  doors  are  equipped  with  spring 
locks  which  make  entrance  from  the  outside 
impossible,  except  through  the  use  of  a  key 
carried  by  the   attendant,  while   the   door 
may  be  readily  opened  by  the  patron  from 
the  inside.     After  a  box  holder  has  left  a 
room   the   door  can  not   again   be   opened 
until  the  attendant  has  unlocked  the  room, 


entered  it,  and  made  certain   the  patron  has  left 

no  valuables   behind  —  a   frequent    occurrence    in 

safe  deposit  vault  rooms.     Then  the  door  is 

once  more  opened  for  the  next  comer. 


Lobby  of  Safe  Deposit  Vaults 


68 


Women'*  Room  in  Safe  Deposit  Vault* 


The 

rooms  are  amply 

commodious  to  accommodate  four,  six,  or  even  more 
persons  at  a  time,  and  offer  every  convenience 
for  business  meetings  of  committees,  trustees,  or 
others  who  desire  privacy  in  the  discussion  of  their 
business  affairs.  No  charge  is  made  for  any  of 
these  accommodations.  At  the  opposite  side  of  the 
vaults  are  similar  accommodations  for  men,  writ- 
ing room,  coupon  and  committee  rooms,  lavatories, 
etc.,  as  completely  furnished  and  equipped  as  are 


Committee  and  Coupon  Rooms 
Safe  Deposit  Vaults 

committee       the  women's 
rooms,  but 
quite  dis- 
tinct and  apart 
from    them. 
Between    these 
sets  of  apartments 
is  the  great  treas- 
ure  room   of   the 


safe   deposit   vaults  —  the   immense  room   which   is 
lined  with  6,000  private  safe  deposit  boxes  of  various 


60 


sizes.  The  floor  of  this  apartment  is  made  of  chrome- 
steel  plates,  three  one-inch  plates  being  riveted  to- 
gether, making  a  drill-proof  and  bomb-proof  floor. 
The  ceiling  and  side  walls  are  constructed  in  the  same 
manner,  but  the  steel  has  been  treated  to  such  deli- 
cate tinting  on  the  ceiling,  and  so  thoroughly  covered 
on  the  floor  that  it  is  difficult  to  believe  it  is  there. 

Upon  the  floor  is  a  rug  25x35  feet,  one  of  the  larg- 
est rugs  in  the  world,  woven  in  a  single  warp  and 
woof,  and  the  product  of  a  famous  rug  maker  in  the 
old  world.  The  electric  light  comes  from  the  ceiling, 
as  is  the  case  in  all  parts  of  the  vaults,  and  glitters 
upon  the  frosted  bronze  faces  of  the  6,000  boxes,  each 
with  its  two  shining  keyhole  plates,  which  completely 
line  the  four  sides  of  the  room.  The  portal  of  this 
treasure  house  is  guarded  by  a  double  set  of  eight- 
ton  doors  similar  to  those  in  position  in  the  business 
vaults  of  the  bank  on  the  floor  above.  A  sentinel 
stands  always  at  either  door,  although  during  business 
hours  the  eight-ton  door  is  of  course  swung  open  and 
a  heavy  bronze  and  steel-grated  door  bars  the  entrance 
on  the  inner  side  of  the  vestibule.  These  vaults  and 
doors  were  designed  by  E.  A.  Strauss,  engineer  for 
Jenney  &  Mundie,  the  architects  of  the  perfect  and 


magnificent  building.  The  mechanism  whereby  the 
huge  doors  are  so  easily  swung  by  one  person  is  a 
device  invented  by  Mr.  Strauss.  When  the  doors  are 
shut  and  the  wheel  has  thrown  the  bolts  into  place, 
they  are  as  impregnable  as  the  solid  chrome-steel 

walls  of  the  vaults. 


Entrance  to  Vault 


61 


Safe  Depatit  Vaults 


The  room  adjoining  the    main  box    room,   and 
guarded  by  a  similar  set  of  doors,  is  set  apart  for 
trunks,  strong  boxes,  and  other  bulky  packages  of 
valuables  too  large  to  be  cared  for  in  the  safe  deposit 
boxes.     The  walls  of  the  room  are  lined  with  steel 
racks  in  three  tiers,  on  which  are  placed  the  trunks 
and  boxes.     Many  people  leaving  the  city  for  the 
summer,  or  starting  on  European  trips,  have 
taken  advantage  of  this  safe  and  rational 
method  of  storing  their  silverware,  furs, 
jewels,  and  other  valuables,  secure  from 
fire  and  burglars.    It  need  scarcely  be  said 
that  the  entire  bank  building  is  abso- 
lutely fire-proof,  being  constructed 
of  Bedford  stone,  marble,  brick, 
steel,  and  Portland  cement. 

As  might  be  expected  in 
the  construction  of  this  model 
building,   the    system    for 
receiving  the  electric  current 
which  controls  all  the  machin- 
ery, and  for  transmitting  it  to  the 
various  parts  of  the  building,  is  as 
near  perfection  as  modern  methods  of 


Caih  Vault  of  Bank 

electrical  construction 
can  make  it.    Not  only  is 
the  building  lighted  by  the 
invisible  current,  but  power 
is  furnished  for  the  motors 
operating  the  fan  blowers  in 
the  ventilation  system,  for  the 
elevators,  for  the  air  compressor  of 
the  sewerage  ejector,  and  other  mechanical 


63 


devices  throughout   the   building.      This  current  is 
furnished  by  a  supply  company,  thus 

avoiding  the 


necessity  for  the  operation  of  an  immense  dynamo 
and  electric  plant,  with  its  attendant  noise  and  agita- 
tion, in  or  about  the  bank  building. 

In  the  electrician's  room  in  the  basement  is  a  pol- 
ished marble  switchboard  upon  which  are  mounted 
the  two  meters  —  one  indicating  power  and  the  other 
light.  To  this  board  the  power  and  light  feeders  are 
attached,  and  on  it  are  switches  regu- 
lating the  currents.  That  is  all  that 
can  be  seen  on  the  surface,  but  the 
hidden  system  of  conduits,  cut-out 
centers,  and  distributing  circuits  by 
which  the  wonder-working  current  is 
absolutely  controlled  is  perfect  and 
beautiful,  from  a  technical  standpoint. 
There  are  many  other  novel  and 
noteworthy  features  about  the  Chi- 
cago National  Bank  building,  but 
within  the  limitations  of  this  brochure 
only  the  more  striking  ones  may  be 
touched  upon.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
no  building  in  Chicago  ranks  with  it 
in  perfection  of  construction  and  in 
beauty  of  finish. 


Electrician'*  Room 


64 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  URBANA 

97731C431C  C002 

CHICAGO,  HISTORICAL.  PICTORAL   CHGO 


